Thomson Reuters
- A drug treatment dramatically improved survival for breast cancer patients, according to new research.
- Patients who took the drug survived for six months longer than those on traditional chemotherapy.
- While the drug has side effects, some serious, it could pave the way for future cancer breakthroughs.
A new drug has been found to dramatically improve survival for patients in advanced stages of breast cancer, according to a study published June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The drug, called trastuzumab deruxtecan, works by using an antibody (protein produced by the immune system) to detect and attach to cancer cells, delivering a chemotherapy drug to destroy the cancer cell.
A large group of researchers from multiple cancer research institutions, including the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, conducted a trial of the drug on 557 patients with breast cancer that spread to other parts of the body. The patients were randomly assigned to receive the experimental drug (373 patients), or a more traditional chemotherapy chosen by their doctors (184 patients).
Researchers found the drug stopped tumors from growing for twice as long as standard chemotherapy, resulting in patients surviving for six months longer. Patients who took the drug lived for nearly two years, compared to 16.8 months for those who had standard chemotherapy.
Typically, treatments aim to improve quality of life or extend their survival by weeks. A treatment adding months to patients' lives is "unheard of," Dr. Halle Moore, director of breast medical oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, told the New York Times.
The findings are also significant because the drug worked against a type of breast cancer that can be tricky to treat. Many cancer treatments work by blocking a particular type of mutated protein called HER2. However, in many cancer cases, cancer cells have low amounts of the protein, which means blocking it is ineffective.
Trastuzumab deruxtecan, like other cancer drugs, targets cancer cells with HER2, but is also able to destroy nearby cancer cells even if they have low levels of the protein, according to the researchers.
The medication does have side effects, some of which are similar to traditional chemotherapy, such as nausea, fatigue, and hair loss, the study found. However, some patients also experienced drug-related lung damage and a small number of patients died. To help mitigate the risks, watching for side effects and addressing them early is key, researchers wrote.
And for patients with cancer that has spread and is unresponsive to other treatment, the drug may be preferable even with the potential risks, Dr. Eric Winer, a breast cancer specialist and director of the Yale Cancer Center not involved with the study, told the New York Times.
The next steps for testing the drug include seeing if it may work for earlier stages of breast cancer, for other types of cancer, and with other strategies for targeting cancer cells, he said.
"This is about more than just this drug or even breast cancer," Winer told the Times. "Its real advantage is that it enables us to take potent therapies directly to cancer cells."
Breast cancer drug drastically increased survival for patients with just months to live
Source: Kalayaan News
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